Comparison of single regulated lentiviral vectors with rtTA expression driven by an autoregulatory loop or a constitutive promoter

Regulated expression of a therapeutic gene is crucial for safe and efficacious gene therapy. Many inducible regulatory systems use a constitutive promoter to express a regulatory protein, such as rtTA in the Tet-On system, which may restrict their use because of cytotoxicity and immunogenicity. Autoregulatory expression of rtTA provides extremely low levels of rtTA when transgene expression is off, with rapid transgene induction upon addition of doxycycline. Lentiviral vectors efficiently transfer genes to dividing and non-dividing cells with long-term gene expression both in vitro and in vivo. We compared regulatory function in a single lentiviral vector where rtTA was either expressed from a constitutive promoter or placed in an autoregulatory loop. Autoregulatory expression of rtTA was superior to constitutive promoter expression, resulting in higher viral titers, undetectable levels of both rtTA and transgene expression in the absence of doxycycline, improved induction kinetics and increased induction levels in all cells tested. We further expanded the utility of the autoregulatory vector by using an improved rtTA variant with an increased sensitivity to doxycycline. This lentiviral vector with doxycycline-regulated transgene expression may be useful for gene therapy applications and in experimental settings where strict temporal expression of a transgene is required

The multifaceted role of serotonin in intestinal homeostasis

The monoamine serotonin, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a remarkable molecule with conserved production in prokaryotes and eukaryotes and a wide range of functions. In the gastrointestinal tract, enterochromaffin cells are the most important source for 5-HT production. Some intestinal bacterial species are also able to produce 5-HT. Besides its role as a neurotransmitter, 5-HT acts on immune cells to regulate their activation. Several lines of evidence indicate that intestinal 5-HT signaling is altered in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. In this review, we discuss the current knowledge on the production, secretion, and signaling of 5-HT in the intestine. We present an inventory of intestinal immune and epithelial cells that respond to 5-HT and describe the effects of these signaling processes on intestinal homeostasis. Further, we detail the mechanisms by which 5-HT could affect inflammatory bowel disease course and describe the effects of interventions that target intestinal 5-HT signaling

Reduction of liver macrophage transduction by pseudotyping lentiviral vectors with a fusion envelope from Autographa californica GP64 and Sendai virus F2 domain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lentiviral vectors are well suited for gene therapy because they can mediate long-term expression in both dividing and nondividing cells. However, lentiviral vectors seem less suitable for liver gene therapy because systemically administered lentiviral vectors are preferentially sequestered by liver macrophages. This results in a reduction of available virus and might also increase the immune response to the vector and vector products.</p> <p>Reduction of macrophage sequestration is therefore essential for efficient lentiviral liver gene therapy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Fusions were made of <it>Autographa californica </it>GP64 and the hepatocyte specific Sendai Virus envelope proteins. Lentiviral vectors were produced with either wild type GP64, Sendai-GP64, or both wild type GP64 and Sendai-GP64 and tested <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>for hepatocyte and macrophage gene transfer.</p> <p>Sendai-GP64 pseudotyped vectors showed specific gene transfer to HepG2 hepatoma cells, with no detectable transduction of HeLa cervical carcinoma cells, and a decreased affinity for RAW mouse macrophages. Co-expression of wild type GP64 and Sendai-GP64 resulted in improved viral titers while retaining increased affinity for HepG2 cells.</p> <p>In vivo, the Sendai-GP64 vectors also showed decreased transduction of murine liver macrophages.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We demonstrate reduced macrophage transduction <it>in vitro </it>and <it>in vivo </it>with GP64/Sendai chimeric envelope proteins.</p

Bimodal and hysteretic expression in mammalian cells from a synthetic gene circuit

In order to establish cells and organisms with predictable properties, synthetic biology makes use of controllable, synthetic genetic devices. These devices are used to replace or to interfere with natural pathways. Alternatively, they may be interlinked with endogenous pathways to create artificial networks of higher complexity. While these approaches have been already successful in prokaryotes and lower eukaryotes, the implementation of such synthetic cassettes in mammalian systems and even animals is still a major obstacle. This is mainly due to the lack of methods that reliably and efficiently transduce synthetic modules without compromising their regulation properties. To pave the way for implementation of synthetic regulation modules in mammalian systems we utilized lentiviral transduction of synthetic modules. A synthetic positive feedback loop, based on the Tetracycline regulation system was implemented in a lentiviral vector system and stably integrated in mammalian cells. This gene regulation circuit yields a bimodal expression response. Based on experimental data a mathematical model based on stochasticity was developed which matched and described the experimental findings. Modelling predicted a hysteretic expression response which was verified experimentally. Thereby supporting the idea that the system is driven by stochasticity. The results presented here highlight that the combination of three independent tools/methodologies facilitate the reliable installation of synthetic gene circuits with predictable expression characteristics in mammalian cells and organisms

Separating Lentiviral Vector Injection and Induction of Gene Expression in Time, Does Not Prevent an Immune Response to rtTA in Rats

BACKGROUND: Lentiviral gene transfer can provide long-term expression of therapeutic genes such as erythropoietin. Because overexpression of erythropoietin can be toxic, regulated expression is needed. Doxycycline inducible vectors can regulate expression of therapeutic transgenes efficiently. However, because they express an immunogenic transactivator (rtTA), their utility for gene therapy is limited. In addition to immunogenic proteins that are expressed from inducible vectors, injection of the vector itself is likely to elicit an immune response because viral capsid proteins will induce "danger signals" that trigger an innate response and recruit inflammatory cells. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have developed an autoregulatory lentiviral vector in which basal expression of rtTA is very low. This enabled us to temporally separate the injection of virus and the expression of the therapeutic gene and rtTA. Wistar rats were injected with an autoregulatory rat erythropoietin expression vector. Two or six weeks after injection, erythropoietin expression was induced by doxycycline. This resulted in an increase of the hematocrit, irrespective of the timing of the induction. However, most rats only responded once to doxycycline administration. Antibodies against rtTA were detected in the early and late induction groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that, even when viral vector capsid proteins have disappeared, expression of foreign proteins in muscle will lead to an immune respons

A mutation which disrupts the hydrophobic core of the signal peptide of bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, an endoplasmic reticulum membrane protein, causes Crigler-Najjar type II

Crigler-Najjar (CN) disease is caused by a deficiency of the hepatic enzyme, bilirubin UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (B-UGT). We have found two CN type II patients, who were homozygous for a leucine to arginine transition at position 15 of B-UGT1. This mutation is expected to disrupt the hydrophobic core of the signal peptide of B-UGT1. Wild type and mutant B-UGT cDNAs were transfected in COS cells. Mutant and wild type mRNA were formed in equal amounts. The mutant protein was expressed with 0.5% efficiency, as compared to wild type. Mutant and wild type mRNAs were translated in vitro. Wild type transferase is processed by microsomes, no processing of the mutant protein was observed

Alteration of viral lipid composition by expression of the phospholipid floppase ABCB4 reduces HIV vector infectivity

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The presence of cholesterol in the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) lipid envelop is important for viral function as cholesterol depleted viral particles show reduced infectivity. However, it is less well established whether other viral membrane lipids are also important for HIV infection.</p> <p>The ABCB4 protein is a phosphatidyl choline (PC) floppase that mediates transport of PC from the inner to the outer membrane leaflet. This property enabled us to modulate the lipid composition of HIV vectors and study the effects on membrane composition and infection efficiency.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Virus generated in the presence of ABCB4 was enriched in PC and cholesterol but contained less sphingomyelin (SM). Viral titers were reduced 5.9 fold. These effects were not observed with an inactive ABCB4 mutant. The presence of the ABC transport inhibitor verapamil abolished the effect of ABCB4 expression on viral titers.</p> <p>The ABCB4 mediated reduction in infectivity was caused by changes in the viral particles and not by components co purified with the virus because virus made in the presence of ABCB4 did not inhibit virus made without ABCB4 in a competition assay.</p> <p>Incorporation of the envelope protein was not affected by the expression of ABCB4. The inhibitory effect of ABCB4 was independent of the viral envelope as the effect was observed with two different envelope proteins.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our data indicate that increasing the PC content of HIV particles reduces infectivity.</p

Novel immortalized human fetal liver cell line, cBAL111, has the potential to differentiate into functional hepatocytes

BACKGROUND: A clonal cell line that combines both stable hepatic function and proliferation capacity is desirable for in vitro applications that depend on hepatic function, such as pharmacological or toxicological assays and bioartificial liver systems. Here we describe the generation and characterization of a clonal human cell line for in vitro hepatocyte applications. RESULTS: Cell clones derived from human fetal liver cells were immortalized by over-expression of telomerase reverse transcriptase. The resulting cell line, cBAL111, displayed hepatic functionality similar to the parental cells prior to immortalization, and did not grow in soft agar. Cell line cBAL111 produced urea, albumin, cytokeratin 18 and 19 and showed high glutathione S transferase pi mRNA levels. In contrast to hepatic cell lines NKNT-3 and HepG2, all hepatic functions were expressed in cBAL111, although there was considerable variation in their levels compared with primary mature hepatocytes. When transplanted in the spleen of immunodeficient mice, cBAL111 engrafted into the liver and partly differentiated into hepatocytes showing expression of human albumin and carbamoylphosphate synthetase without signs of cell fusion. CONCLUSION: This novel liver cell line has the potential to differentiate into mature hepatocytes to be used for in vitro hepatocyte applications